"Working underground makes you crave improvement. A century before, it was the miners' dues that helped build institutes of learning, theaters, libraries, reading rooms.

"Our job in the union was not only to represent our workers," he says, "but also to explain to them what it meant to work together, share together, support the national health service, improve the education system. The world was what we were working with."

Though its standing as a national force was greatly diminished after the defeat of the national miners' strike in 1985, the NUM, in which O'Sullivan remains an active member, still plays a role at Tower. It even staged a 24-hour strike last year, although O'Sullivan points out that the strike was called on Monday, resolved on Tuesday, and by Friday the same amount of weekly coal had been produced.

Clearly, though, embracing both his management responsibilities and his role as a union member is a delicate balance. "Some people accuse me of having changed sides," he admits. "But I tell them that my job, whether calling a strike action or chairing a board meeting, is the same -- to do the best for Tower and for those who work here."

Yet the dispute last year struck a nerve. O'Sullivan has since moved his office to beside the pithead baths and is having the connecting door cut in half. "I want to be in the firing line again," he says. "Perhaps I've been in danger of losing touch.

"Taking control gives you the opportunity to repeat the mistakes that were made before. We brought back a dozen of the original managers, and I hope we don't treat them as badly as they treated us. Some miners are still unwilling to forgive them, but we must never allow our past to destroy our future."

Visit the Tower Colliery on the Web (http://www.baynet.co.uk/colliery).

Sidebar: Paying Your Dues

Everything Tyrone O'Sullivan knows about leadership and management he learned at the coal face, at the pithead, and on the picket line.

Take your place in history. You've been given a unique part to play at a unique stage of your company's history. Make the most of it. "No one could write a history of the mining industry without the Tower experience. Now, as leaders, we are major players in that history."

Pat, don't kick. Create a workforce that is working with you -- not for or against you. "If you've had nothing but kicks in your life, another kick will make no difference. What will make a difference is a pat on the back and being allowed to share in the good times."

First ask, then act. Always manage by consent with those in the know. "I don't care what industry you're in: All the knowledge is on the shop floor, not in the boardroom. If you don't mine the knowledge from those people, you're failing your company."

Know when to walk away. Always know your price; don't sell yourself short. "When we first bid for the pit, the power stations wouldn't give us the price for the coal that we needed. I told them that all my working life I'd fought to ensure my men had decent wages -- and that I wasn't going to undersell them now. I walked away. They caved in. My problem is that I always think I'm right, but I don't consider it a weakness. I've got to have confidence in my judgment."